The museum illustrates design from a historical perspective. The rooms display everyday objects from the Middle Ages through to the 19th century, showing how design has always been an active part of our daily life. Objects that still play a part in our everyday lives are explained, such as porcelain, glass, pottery pieces, furniture, textiles, metalwork, ivory, Cordovan leather and painted and tooled leather.

To help visitors understand the environment in which these items were made, their analysis and interpretation aims to demonstrate the relations between production systems, the development of aesthetic ideas and the changing values of these objects.